The Watchman in Pieces

Surveillance, Literature, and Liberal Personhood

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, Theory, Books & Reading, Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science
Cover of the book The Watchman in Pieces by Prof. David Rosen, Prof. Aaron Santesso, Yale University Press
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Author: Prof. David Rosen, Prof. Aaron Santesso ISBN: 9780300156645
Publisher: Yale University Press Publication: June 18, 2013
Imprint: Yale University Press Language: English
Author: Prof. David Rosen, Prof. Aaron Santesso
ISBN: 9780300156645
Publisher: Yale University Press
Publication: June 18, 2013
Imprint: Yale University Press
Language: English

Spanning nearly 500 years of cultural and social history, this book examines the ways that literature and surveillance have developed together, as kindred modern practices. As ideas about personhood—what constitutes a self—have changed over time, so too have ideas about how to represent, shape, or invade the self. The authors show that, since the Renaissance, changes in observation strategies have driven innovations in literature; literature, in turn, has provided a laboratory and forum for the way we think about surveillance and privacy. Ultimately, they contend that the habits of mind cultivated by literature make rational and self-aware participation in contemporary surveillance environments possible. In a society increasingly dominated by interlocking surveillance systems, these habits of mind are consequently necessary for fully realized liberal citizenship.

Spanning nearly 500 years of cultural and social history, this book examines the ways that literature and surveillance have developed together, as kindred modern practices. As ideas about personhood—what constitutes a self—have changed over time, so too have ideas about how to represent, shape, or invade the self. The authors show that, since the Renaissance, changes in observation strategies have driven innovations in literature; literature, in turn, has provided a laboratory and forum for the way we think about surveillance and privacy. Ultimately, they contend that the habits of mind cultivated by literature make rational and self-aware participation in contemporary surveillance environments possible. In a society increasingly dominated by interlocking surveillance systems, these habits of mind are consequently necessary for fully realized liberal citizenship.

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